Nasser: 

Welcome to Shift Happens, I’m Nasser Sahlool. Today I’m joined by Neil Cameron, Agency Development Partnership Lead at Reddit in Canada. Neil works closely with agencies and brands to help them understand how Reddit’s communities, conversations and human insights can shape smarter marketing decisions. 

For years, Reddit was called the front page of the internet, but today it’s becoming something bigger. The place where people go when they don’t just want an answer, they want a real one. As AI gets better at summarizing the internet, people are still searching for lived experience, honest opinions, and occasionally a 300 common thread about which vacuum cleaner won’t ruin your life. 

In this episode, we’ll talk about Reddit’s role in consumer trust search, AI discovery, and how brands can show up in communities without sounding like they wandered into the wrong group chat. Neil, welcome to Shift Happens. 

Neil: 

Thank you for having me. 

Nasser: 

Delighted that you’re here. 

Neil: 

Thank you. 

Nasser: 

And Reddit’s an interesting one because I think a few years ago, I don’t know whether we would have had this conversation. 

Neil: 

Yeah, it’s funny, we’ve gone through this real kind of glow up, which is really interesting because the platform’s been around for 21 years, and I think people kind of forget that. I think what’s really just happened is certainly we’ve launched our ads suite and ad products, and we’re having more open conversations with audiences such as yourselves. But I think what’s also just amazing just to watch, is just how many new users are starting to discover the platform. 

So we’ve had this real blow up in sort of like a huge growth in traffic. And a big part of that is driven by AI search, but also just this real cultural shift, this real need for like community and authenticity. And there’s been just such a shift, I think. I don’t know if you feel this time I’m a little tired of these, like “me-centric” platforms, and sometimes you just crave a little bit of, like a “we-centric” platform, right? 

Coming together, finding your crew, finding your people, those places where you can just start to be a bit more like honest and vulnerable and like, have conversations online that maybe you weren’t having before. It’s really interesting to watch. 

Nasser: 

No, I agree. I’m getting kind of emotional here. But it’s interesting because this evolution, like Reddit, has historically been known as the front page of the internet, right? 

Neil: 

Yeah. 

Nasser: 

But the way that you’re describing it, it’s becoming more of the heart of the internet. And how do you see that evolution and development happening over time? 

Neil: 

Yeah, I think by and by heart on the internet, I think it’s this notion of what we were really seeing start to happen is becoming this place of like, we call this like this place of validation. Like it’s the place you go where it’s interesting, the role it’s playing, it’s where you come just to really be… 

And the one thing is it’s also by design, which is what’s really interesting. People also forget that – that it is an anonymous platform and it is truly democratic. And these subreddits are moderated by humans and people that have shared passions. So I think what’s really happening again, that heart of the internet is just that place where you can start to be vulnerable, but also validate again, where there’s such an onslaught of information that we’re facing at such a fast clip. 

I think what’s also happening with AI is we get these perfectly like crystallized responses to our queries, right? And we want the validation. We want to kind of poke the holes, right. We want to start to banter and actually dig a little deeper. So what’s also interesting is that sort of interplay of, we’re in this now new reality where we get these beautiful AI wrapped up summaries of things, and it’s great for some things, but sometimes it’s just not enough. 

And I think what’s also we’re all missing more and more is that real, like vulnerable lived experience and that honesty. Like I think our CEO said this and it’s such a weird statement to make. But he was like, we all have a weird rash, but we don’t all feel comfortable talking about it online. And like, Reddit’s that one place where people can just sort of like drop the facade and just like, get real with one another. It’s such a funny way to think about it, but it’s true. 

Nasser: 

I really hope that based on what the example that you just gave, that my anonymity in Reddit hasn’t been compromised. 

Neil: 

It has not. And I think, again, it just gives people just such a different permission. And so I think that’s what’s really changed. And again, I think it’s a shift because of technology, but also just like a shift in mindset and just what’s happening culturally as well. 

Nasser: 

So it is interesting because and I’d like to explore this more, this idea of, you know, at the time where, where we have these AI summaries and this explosion and interest around AI driven discovery of brands, why are people using Reddit more and more? What is the relationship that they’re building there that they’re not getting out of the AI platforms? 

Neil: 

I think it’s that balanced perspective. And I think that’s what, you know, sometimes with AI search is it just gives you this beautiful, harmonious, just sort of like wrapped up in a bow. And we don’t want all that, right? Like we want to have that balanced perspective. But again, recognizing like just how unique each of us are. And so I think it’s about that. 

It’s about sort of like delving deeper, finding a bit of your tribe. I mean, there’s over 100,000 plus active communities. And I think that’s what people also forget. I think community also is such a term we throw around in such a, especially in the digital age, about so many different platforms. And we forget like there’s some real niche niche sub sub sub sub sub communities that exist that are really vibrant and really healthy and really sort of thrive. 

Nasser: 

Okay, so give me…. I’m sure you said in the office on certain days, and you’re like, guys, are you aware of this community? 

Neil: 

Like did you know about running with dogs? Like there’s just a community of people and like, are just so passionate about running with dogs. So these are runners. But like, it’s not just like a running forum. It’s like running with your dog. And one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of a marketer that really understood this notion of community and social listening. Puma ran a campaign in this community, and that ad was they just showed photos of dogs and they were just like, we love dogs as much as you do. So we’re not going to show you photos of shoes. Like essentially was like the net net. 

It was really that notion of I think sometimes what’s so powerful is when brands realize sometimes you just got to hand your flowers right. Recognize and celebrate the conversation that’s going on and not trying to insert yourself, but just show up where people are having the conversations. 

Nasser: 

I’m not even going to look at the running with dogs because I have a fat beagle. For me, running with dogs would mean carrying my dog. 

Neil: 

Yeah, that’s not healthy. That can’t be good for you. It can’t be good for either of you. 

Nasser: 

No not for his self esteem either. 

Neil: 

No, and not for yours either. 

Nasser: 

So let’s continue down this vein because we talk about AI search. And certainly from our experience at DAC, we’ve seen enormous correlation between, you know, Reddit engagement and visibility and visibility in AI search. Why do you think it influences visibility and discoverability for brands in other platforms so much? 

Neil: 

I mean, I think part of it is…I mean, I think there’s a couple things. Because there’s definitely some misnomers, and I do find some brands get a little overly excited because we don’t know what’s going to get picked up and what’s going to get sourced and spit out an AI. And so, you know, unfortunately, I can’t make any promises or guarantees. I think, first off, why a lot of conversation Reddit gets cited for stuff is just the depth and the breadth of it. And again, the fact that it is real human language and that it is conversational. 

What we always say to brands, though, is that there is a flywheel, which is that by being active, by advertising, by being where the discussion is happening, it facilitates more of that conversation that will hopefully get picked up and cited. But we’ve done a ton of research and it’s amazing is what we’ve also found is being the loudest or being the newest or the latest conversation doesn’t necessarily guarantee what gets cited. 

So we just say, you know, to brands, start to think about moving away from optimizing to keyword, start optimizing towards conversation. You know, be active –  like run paid campaigns where these discussions are happening and it creates this natural flywheel that will hopefully happen. But again, it is wild. I don’t know what your experience has been like. 

Nasser: 

No, no definitely. And this idea of… it’s not just a one-off right consistency of showing up, showing up in different mechanisms and tactics within the Reddit ecosystem. Again, we talk about correlation as opposed to causation as far as this is concerned. But we’ve definitely seen the impact that it has. And for us it’s been fascinating how Reddit has become more prominent in a lot of advertisers and brands minds precisely for this reason. Even though there’s no guarantees and all of that, but just the knowledge that this is a necessary thing to do.  

Neil: 

Yeah, yeah. For sure. I also think, again, it’s just like being where the conversation is happening, like, why wouldn’t you want to be there? Like there’s such like robust like parenting communities. Why wouldn’t you want to be there where that conversation is happening? But we also have a lot of playbooks about then like how to show up and like, what does that look like? And it’s not an easy formula, but like there’s definitely a ton of tips. 

Again, part of it is just like listening, right? Like showing up and listening, thinking about your messaging, and are you being additive and are you bringing value? But also being really strategic. Now I’m becoming a hype man, but like some of our tools are just so incredible and some of like our ad products and ad suite in terms of your ability to target by keyword, you can build negative targeting list, keyword exclusion… 

So thinking about all of those strategies and marrying it together, I find, is where it becomes like the special sauce. Like Canada Goose, does it just like…chef’s kiss beautifully in the understanding of different communities, talking about luxury and fashion and running brand campaigns, but then pairing it with like some keyword targeting and dynamic product ads and retargeting. I think that’s the way to start to look at it. I think some brands just, you know, they just want to come in, dominate. It’s like it’s not about that takes time. But there’s such an impressive suite of solutions that really encourage brands to do that. 

Nasser: 

And what has been the impact as far as Canada Goose is concerned? Because like you say, Reddit is very different from traditional social platforms. It’s funny that we’re talking about traditional social platforms for a thing that’s only a few years old right? But it is different. Can you talk about how it’s different and what they have done to kind of treat it as its own thing and not just come in and try to dominate the conversation in ways that you can in other platforms. 

Neil: 

I think very different in the sense of some of the things of just by the design. So the fact that again, it is anonymous, that it’s community-based, the fact that it is democratic, that there isn’t a social graph, there isn’t an algorithm that fuels it. The community upvotes and down votes content based on what they feel is most relevant and most valuable to one another. I think what’s also interesting and different is, again, that sort of how people show up on the platform is it’s wild. 

There’s a stat that every two seconds someone will ask on Reddit for a recommendation, and that average two second ask for recommendation is met with 14 responses.  Which is wild. Just to think of like that dynamic of like building and supporting one another. So I think in that sense it’s very different than other platforms.  

Nasser: 

I think what is fascinating about this conversation is fundamentally how people-based everything is in an environment where so much is going to the machine, right. You see other social media platforms who proudly talk about the fact that they’re aggressively moving into much more AI-driven experiences, whether it’s on the advertiser side or the content or creative side, and you seem to be making your bet that no, people still want to connect with people. 

Neil: 

People still want to connect with people. Don’t get me wrong, we have you know, we are thinking about the role of AI, especially to help empower and enable advertisers. Again, as we talk about like this massive platform, how do you address people at scale? How do you optimize it like all those things? So we are investing in AI in that sense. But yeah, we really do value this, like really human, person to person, self-moderated environment. It’s really amazing to see. 

And I think again, what’s also interesting is just how it’s such a strong text-based platform. But that means that there’s so much more opportunity but also control as well, which is what’s also really interesting to look at. 

Nasser: 

That’s interesting. You use the word control because that’s generally the perception is that there is a lack of control when it comes to this kind of community-based environment. So let me ask you this question. What do you see are the common mistakes that brands make when they try to engage with Reddit? 

Neil: 

Yeah, I mean, I think the most common mistake first off is, brands right out the gate are like, I need an organic strategy, and I need to come in, I need to own this, and now do I need to moderate? It’s like, take a breath, like pause. One thing I say is like, Reddit is the greatest free focus group that’s ever existed out there. So you’re welcome. To the brands out there, you’re welcome. 

I would say like first off, just start running some ads and really thinking about your messaging and ask yourself some questions like, “Are we bringing value to the table?” And also again, really think about like your targeting strategy. Like what is the relationship we want to have because there are some very niche communities or there’s some very broader communities. So thinking about that, thinking about how you want to target. 

The other thing is also, again, challenge your notion of traditional social platforms. Some of our view through rates, we have things like free form ads where brands can literally upload a blog post and people will read it on Reddit. Like, it is really amazing. Like some of those traditional stats or metrics that we’re used to seeing sort of establishes a bit of a norm. We see very different metrics on the platform. 

So sometimes we’ll see like view through rates, you’re like, that is really impressive. Someone spent that much time looking at my ad, you’re like, yeah, you did, because you were targeting to a very specific community. You showed up, you brought value, and you gave them a ton of really useful content. And I think that’s the other thing is, I would encourage brands sometimes is… you got to like crawl, walk, run and don’t bring those preconceived notions and preconceived proxy metrics to the platform because it can be really surprising. 

Nasser: 

I want to go back to this idea of how you differentiate yourself from other platforms, other social platforms. And the interesting thing about how you’re so human led, the implication is that you help shape culture, right? Or you’re a reflection of culture. And I find that interesting because if we think about culture, a lot of cultural movements or a lot of cultural moments in social media, you know, you hear about doing it for the gram and that kind of thing, right? Can you point to how Reddit influences these kinds of moments and movements as well, because it feels a little bit more under the surface. 

Neil: 

I think so. And I think, again, it comes down to the difference of “me versus we”. So in the sense that I think it is about yes, it does shape culture, but in a way where it’s a bit more deconstructing, breaking it down a little bit, having a conversation about it, getting a little bit more real about it, versus I would say sometimes the artifice of culture, which is very outward presenting. 

Because again, it’s not about the fame, right? It’s about the support. And at the same time and again, I’m pretty new to working for the organization. It’s fascinating, I didn’t realize this, like some of the moderators of some of these subreddits are pretty… they like they have some swag, like they have some swagger as well. So I will also say it depends. Also, I would say by the community and by the subset as well. But like I didn’t realize this.  

Like someone was like: “you know, the moderator of the Toronto Raptors?” I was like yeah, I think I met him once. And someone’s like, can I get an autograph? Like you want an autograph? Like, not quite. But like I will say this, I think that’s the one thing I actually think is interesting is that it certainly will vary by community. But I think again, there’s a lot more of the like breaking it down and shaping culture in a different way. 

And I think it’s probably a bit more of an authentic way, but more out of a collective way versus someone saying definitively, this is it. It’s kind of people coming to a bit more of a negotiation and a consensus around culture, I would say. 

Nasser: 

So you may be biased, but which one has more swag? Wikipedia editor or Reddit moderator? 

Neil: 

I don’t know, I don’t know. We’ll have to go to like, is there like a Reddit-Con or Wikipedia-Con? I don’t know, we’ll see.  

Nasser: 

You should ask that question.  

Neil: 

We should host one or something.  

Nasser: 

That’s a great idea.  

Neil: 

Yeah. Thank you. 

Nasser: 

So one of the questions that I have, thinking about a lot of our the brands that we work with, multi-location businesses, service-based businesses, where are the biggest opportunities that you see for those kinds of businesses in an environment like Reddit? 

Neil: 

Yeah I mean what’s interesting first off is I always say this to any brand, any marketer, even to you as an agency, I’m like start to play around with that. You would actually be surprised. Like there might already be an existing community about these retailers, these multi-location retailers. There might be an entire fan base that’s already doing a lot of work on their behalf. Like you’re welcome. 

But also sometimes there’s regional subreddits. I think, again, part of I would just say is like the place to start is just by doing some discovery, playing around in the app and seeing the different communities that exist, and you’ll actually be kind of surprised. You might be like, well, the job’s already kind of starting to be done for us, right? What was fascinating and it’s not really multi retail, but a perfect example which I thought was amazing was EQ Bank. 

So here’s a bank that prides itself on being an innovator, a leader in a lot of ways. And they ran what we have which is very unique to our platform. It’s called an AMA. It’s an “Ask Me Anything.” And their VP product went live on Reddit and was just like, what do you want to know? Like, how should we be building our product? What questions do you have? What’s no one ever been able to answer for you? 

And I think that is an example of just like that’s so amazing and so powerful is that is when brands especially like some of the clients you’re working with, it’s like, start doing “Ask Me Anything” like be transparent, be open, bring people into your organization, like have a conversation. And there’s tons of tools and solutions behind it. It’s moderated, like all that good stuff. It’s not completely like throwing, you know, throwing yourself out there. But I think that is can be such a powerful, powerful tool. 

Nasser: 

No doubt. So there’s the shift. Reddit isn’t just where culture shows up, it’s where decisions get shaped. As AI answers faster, human conversations are becoming more valuable because people still want trust. They want lived experiences, and the kind of honesty that no brand guideline can fully manufacture. For marketers, the opportunity isn’t to interrupt these conversations, it’s to understand them. It’s to contribute to them, and to show up with enough humility and not get roasted in the comments. 

Now make it happen. Follow Shift Happens, leave us a review, and share this episode with your team. If you have questions for the podcast, email us at shifthappens@dacgroup.com. We’d love to hear from you. 

Neil, thank you very much for joining us. 

Neil: 

Thank you for having me. 

Nasser: 

And consider this your own private “Ask Me Anything.” 

Neil: 

Done. Love it. Thank you. 

Nasser: 

Thank you very much for joining us. I’m Nasser Sahlool.